2013 Q & A Blargh of Flames and Emptiness · 7:17am Dec 28th, 2013
Courtesy of Floydienslip
It's the end of the year and I'm not doing anything productive.
So how about it. Got any questions? I know I'm not a very talkative lemur in general, especially lately... (oh wait.)
Still, if you have any questions about me, my fics, or my overall venomous contribution to the fandom, then feel free to ejaculate them here. Or if you have any suggestions or advice on how I can improve my shiet or make surfing this part of the digital cosmos more enjoyable or rewarding, feel free to air your grievances (petticoats?). I can't promise that I'll get to every single one of them, or in intense detail. But it wouldn't hurt to try.
Yes, you can ask EoP related stuff, but the one gold question has been addressed a million times, so to ask it again would be counter-productive, but I won't stop you.
F'naaaaa. I'll regret this in the morning.
-SS&E
Will the Austraeoh series really be 12 stories long? How far out is it written and planned ahead of time?
Which of your stories are you most and least proud of, and why? Not counting your epics, which stories have been easiest and hardest to write and why?
Here's what I would suggest: Sit your flank down, write out End of Ponies starting from where you last left off, and don't edit a word of it until the entire thing is complete, beginning to end. Only then, when it's finally finished, should you start working on making it presentable. It doesn't matter how long it takes; it's still quicker in the long term.
Is your love of strong animated female characters (based on your avatar and the gifs scattered about here and there) part of why you love MLP?
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According to my friend, Imploding Colon, whom I take photos of--yes, the series will really be 12 books long. The general plot of the story is already planned out about three books in advance, though there's room for filler in the middle. Currently, concrete plans cover everything through the early portions of book 5. Then it dicks around for a bit, like Imploding Colon stories are bound to do.
As for the ending... well... there are a few in mind, but so far I do believe IC is gunning for one in particular.
How did you first get into MLP? When did you realize you were on to something/really getting popular/making it big with your stories?
1655405 Wow. I'm super stoked. I'll be impressed if the show is still going by the time it is finished.
Where do you find your ideas, usually? Also, would you consider your work with Imploding Colon to be better than on here? I've never read EoP or Background Pony so I'm not as knowledgeable, but you also haven't disappointed me.
One more question for your friend Imploding Colon: What does he plan on doing when he runs out of vowels to start story titles with?
1655417 invent his own, duh
1655417
AEIOUYYUOIEA
1655420 holy cow I can't believe I never thought of that!
1655399
Most Proud of: Background Pony
Least Proud of: Background Pony
F'naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
That's the lazy answer, though it's mostly true. I can pick several stories that I'm very proud of, mostly ones that haven't made much waves: such as Herald, Scale, Last Tears in Tartarus, and the most recent There Is Love Beyond What Lingers.
As for fics I'm not proud of, the list goes on and on: Twistclops, Icebergs, Big Dumb Object, Tinnitus, Saros (the first one), and that certain elephant who's hanging and refuses to asphyxiate.
Easiest stories to write are those that involve nothing but slice of life or dialogue.
Hardest stories to write are ones that are long term and involve continuously running themes... i.e. the good ones.
I've heard tales (mostly of my own invention) that "Amnesiac" was a key album for the writing of background pony. Is this true?
I suppose How to Disappear Completely is a given, correct?
1. If you could have a conversation with any deceased famous person, who would it be, and why?
2. What makes a story good, in your opinion?
3. Do you have any plans to continue work on the Octavia epic (which has always intrigued me a great deal)? Or is it dead?
1655425 I'll be honest, I'm too terrified to try to read Herald. I think I'll stick to having read the parody of it.
You often state that despite how much you write, you don't really read anything. Why is that? Does reading disinterest you, do you just not have the time for it, or some other asinine thing?
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I agree that writing stuff in full creates a way better product. I have such a terrible attention span that if I submit something unfinished... then I'm probably never going to finish it. Such is the fate of Twistclops and Big Dumb Object (f'na)
The beauty of End of Ponies is that I've always ever wrote it in long spurts, one arc at a time. I treated each arc like a book and worked on them before I was finished. That's why, unlike Background Pony, I cannot sit down and do a chapter and then upload it. For the thing to work, I gotta--quite literally--write an Austraeoh-esque size motherfucking book, get it edited, get it proofread, get it re-edited and re-proofread, and then go about uploading it. Even after all that work, it'd be just a chunk of the narrative.
That'd almost take something akin to talent or patience. Who am I, Cold in Gardez?
But no seriously I want to stop thinking thoughts of self-loathing as I'm shutting the shower offThank you for your words of wisdom. They are appreciated, and wise, and appreciable, and wisdomy.
That Youtube video
INB4 nothing but EoP questions................
Awwww, everyone still likes the Megamilk avatar better
Okay, actual question.... hmmm....
Ooooh, when you were writing Background pony, did you already know how
hatedcontroversialdivisive the final chapters were going to be?1655407
I got into MLP for a bunch of different reasons. Part of it was a TF2 forum that captured my eyeballs. Another part was a certain video that caught my eye. The rest of it... was gravity.
It's rather difficult to state when I first noticed myself "making it big," because "making it big" in a fandom that allows literature based on little girl pastel ponies is too nebulous and depressing to properly scale.
That said, the success of Background Pony certainly went to my head, and from then on I felt like I had to make everything I did epic
until I slacked off and got selfish and allowed the calamity that was 2012 to happen. Though, I'd say the one moment when my fimfic tumorousness dawned on me was some random conversation I was having with my best friend and he said "you should totally check out the statistics page" and I was like "what statistics page" and he was all "this statistics page" and I was like "What... I'm number 8 on the site in terms of subscribers?" And he said yeah.And then motherfucking Zoram.
bookofmormononline.net/art/4-24
Will Scootaloo still visit Petra?
also what conventions if any do you plan on visiting next year?
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Imploding Colon is a menace to society. He should be locked up after what he did to Gwen Stacey's vertebrae.
As for where I get my ideas--most of them are stealing little bits of stuff from everywhere through the utilization of stealthy Kevin Bacon degrees. A lot of times, I just think to myself "Wow, I really liked that one episode of Star Trek TNG where such and such happened. Hey! What if I applied that to ponies?! And then Rainbow Dash was a lesbian?!"
Coming up with ideas is super easy for me. Executing them is where I suck on the teat of Tartarusian Ted Turner. Still, I occasionally crap out a diamond.
And then Rainbow Dash was a lesbian.
1655402
No. It's part of how I like to share protein with this dimension.
1655417
When out of vowels, use slewov.
How do you stay focused and undistracted while writing? Any specific strategies?
Also, are you an outliner or do you generally explore what you're writing as you're writing.
1655461
Thanks for answering my question, and I think you're a fantastic writer and can't wait to see more from you. 
Huh, that sounds scarily close to how I come up with ideas. Small world.
1655428
I can't think of any connection between Background Pony and Radiohead, to be honest. I think I was having a musical lapse at the time, which is ironic. I listened to Belgerum's stuff on loop when I did the last chapter. Also, when I wanted to feel melancholic, I'd switch on Simon and Garfunkel:
No, when I think of Radiohead, I think of End of Ponies. Namely the music video for Pyramid Song
Only, instead of going underwater, Scootaloo is visiting the wasteland. Oh, and she's scavenging for stuff, not committing suicide.
At least not yet.
1655467
1655420 Pilate looks like you were right!
Whats your current or next project? Give us a little sneak peek!
Also, how are you liking season 4 so far?
1655433
I'd talk to myself to find out if I ever learned to be cheerful before the end.
3.bp.blogspot.com/-XqG_xP6nneA/TrNg8kzD62I/AAAAAAAAAaY/apPVjgLn88A/s1600/red-plaid-pleated-mini-skirt.jpg
thisweekinnuclear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/explosions-fires.jpg
It's been dead for a long, long time, which is ironic, given the subject matter.
I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I'd very much like to return to it and knock it out, especially since it's dealing with a lot of shiet that I'd enjoy writing. It's just gonna be time consuming, probably the biggest thing since Funeral of Derpy Hooves (I suspect over 120,000 words). Juts lots of kinks to work out. I've done about 50,000 words of it already.
1655472 Huh, funny how things work out in the end. I can see EoP being a more Radiohead like world (What with Kid A and Amnesiac being THE post-apocalyptic mindscape records of the early 2000s that wasn't in trip-hop).
How goes work on Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon?
1655434
It's a little too goofy at parts to take seriously. Like the part when Amethyst Star gets bloodily sucked through a pet door while pleading for her life.
Also, it's got zombie Rainbow Dash.
What stories do you think every SS&E fan should read--yours, other authors of FiMFiction, etc?
1655437
It's taking a shitton of effort to even do this blog.
I just barely pay attention to anything. Even if it's a close friend's writing whom I respect, I just take so dayum long in reading it. I'll go for a paragraph and then my mind will wander off, hauling about 10+ different plot contrivances and alternate storyline ideas.
Not sure if it's an attention span problem or if I'm simply super crazy bored with everything unless it's something that comes from my mind or hory shiet:
1655473
i.imgur.com/SBEvy.gif
1655507 As a huge fan of Paul Simon (I'm finally going to get to see him live this February), I heartily approve of this GIF, Though I'm not quite sure how it pertains to the discussion at hoof
.
1655447
I lurve yours. See?
I think when I first conceived of the BP ending, my initial reaction was "nuuuuuuu don't do that." And that's how I knew it was exactly what I needed to do.
Some of the earliest stuff Vimbert had to say about my works--both the good and the bad--are words that I cherish sincerely. And among the good stuff was his satisfaction in EoP not fucking around, in that bad shiet happened and they stayed bad.
Think about it--do we really have a lot of downer endings in popular culture that sticks to the downerness? Not to say that I orchestrated BP to be a total black hole of depression, but rather I found myself with a scenario that gave the protagonist an extremely heroic stage bow while at the same time sticking to her principals and the underlining the theme of the story.
Now, marsupials will argue--and understandably so--that Lyra's decision at the end of the fic was counter intuitive to her actions throughout the earlier portions of the story. But said marsupials have evidently forgotten her repeated (see: redundant) acts of sacrifice all throughout the fic--from giving up Morning Dew to delaying her research to help lift Rarity's spirits to giving the glory of Scootaloo's rescue to Rainbow Dash to avoiding any sort of proper reunion with her father to giving up the money for sound stones so that Ditzy Doo could give a flute to her daughter Dinky in the very first goddam chapter of the fic.
Lyra was always about sacrifice, about giving up her own needs to help those around her, even when she knew that it would only lend in her perpetual isolation. Giving up her love of music so that she wouldn't be tempted to pursue the Nocturne once more and risk altering all of the good things she had inadvertently done for Ponyville (and Equestria as a whole) was just cementing who she was and what she did throughout the story. Thus, in my opinion at least, the ending fit. And the tumorously depressing nature of Chapter 20 was nifty for two reasons. 1) It's not something most authors had the balls to do. and 2) It gave us a gigantic abyss of depression, at the bottom of which the protagonist herself chose deliberately to light a candle of optimistic self-affirmation and hope, a spark in the darkness, when she breaks the fourth wall and appeals to the readers--just like she appeals to all ponydom--with love and admiration and sincerity of the heart, something she could only be afforded once in a lifetime, an act of pathos that could never be erased.
In my opinion, Background Pony has never been and will never be a tragedy. The protagonist accomplished something, even if for a brief spontaneous moment of epiphany. Did I expect this ending to piss the ever-loving diaper goo out of people? Well, sh00r, a little bit. To be honest, I didn't think marsupials would be as bent out of shape as they eventually were, but if the few people got the point that I was attempting to sneeze across, or else felt an emotional spark of bittersweet contentment, then my mission was accomplished, and the ending that I established about three weeks into starting Background Pony (and later cemented about 6 months later as originally intended) served its purpose.
1655454
The Petra arc will in fact involve Petra, and Scootaloo will go there. In fact, it will involve Petra far more than ever before. I'm very seriously considering dropping all of the "flashback" sequences entirely.
As for conventions, I'll definitely be going to Megacon. There is a huge lack of major conventions in Florida, brony-wise. Not sure why. Maybe the mosquitoes suck all the blood out from clop fans. F'naaaaaa.
Bronycon is in Baltimore, which--last time I checked--is not in Florida, and for probably good reason. It'd be too easy for God to wipe us all out with a tsunami.
1655546
I'm sorry you'll also have to suffer through seeing Sting.
1655468
I've gone into detail about keeping focused before. I have a computer in an "office" partitioned off in the garage. I lovingly name it "Sedna." Sedna has no connection to the Internet or to Skype or to Twitter or to anything. It literally has a 56k modem collecting dust. I bought the thing for less than $250. It's the kind of shiet you'd expect to be hooked up to a prescription database at some back alley emergency health clinic. In there, I got dust, spiders, the smell of fiberglass, and one tiny black screen with red text to make me think of pony and nothing else.
Except for when this happens:
1655563 That is true, thought another good con to visit bronies if it is till around next year would be Anime Festival Orlando. a really nice laid back convention, not as big as megacon, but still a reliable staff and an awesome gaming setup make up for it.
Now that will be fun to see for the next arc. I mean you're first version was brilliant, my question for that was why did you cut it?
1655468
If it's a huge-ass fanfic epic, you bet your ruffled pink panties I'm gonna do an outliner. Complicated story elements are complicated, son. If it's something that I write literally overnight (like pretty much all of my oneshots), then I rely on them less so, cuz I've turned into a ghetto Jack Kerouac with balls of pretentious steel.
This isn't a question, I just want to say. Thank you for being so awesome short skirts!
good night everypony! New episode comes soon!
1655470
1655475
1. i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp42/Sirusthedruid/Tartarus.jpg
2. nextplore.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Epcot.jpg
3. derpicdn.net/img/2013/12/22/503529/large.png
Diggin' it.
Could use more Lyra, though.
1655486
1655496
Skip my stories.
Read Cold in Gardez.
Read Ponky.
Read Chromosome.
Read Propmaster.
Go post RD/Scootaloo pics on Pilate's user page.
Indulge in Wanderer's Blogs.
Then take a long, warm shower.
1655593 That is the best possible answer I could have hoped for.
1655575
See: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/54553/27/short-scraps-and-explosions/end-of-ponies-petra-arc-kaizo-edition-pt-1